REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE ST GEORGE’S HALL, LIVERPOOL WEDNESDAY, 4 JUNE, 2008
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE ST GEORGE’S HALL, LIVERPOOL WEDNESDAY, 4 JUNE, 2008
Lord Lieutenant,
Lord Mayor,
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Dia dhíbh a chairde. Tá mé iontach sásta bheith i bhur measc um thráthnóna ar an ócáid speisialta seo dom. Míle bhuíochas díbh as an fáilte sin.
I am really delighted to have been invited to join you here this evening in this wonderfully historic setting at the heart of this legendary city, whose story is so strongly entwined with the story of Ireland. On Martin’s and my own behalf, and that of my entire delegation, thank you for your extremely warm welcome. It is great to be here, among so many friends - in some cases, I am sure, among family - and among so many of the people whose lived lives make up the present generation of the infinity of human links and ties that have for centuries bound Liverpool to Ireland, and Ireland to Liverpool.
Although historians have found Irish names among the Liverpudlians as early as the fourteenth century, it seems not to have been until after the rebellion of 1798 that we really started coming over in great numbers in what was to become a familiar, sorry tale of flight from misery at home. Even before the Famine some 50,000 Irish are recorded as having made their home here. But it was that period of mass starvation when a million died and a million more landed in this city that built bridges of tears between Ireland and Liverpool, that changed Irish history and British history, that changed this city and made of it the city that is so often referred to as the second Irish capital. Those sad lives are commemorated in the grounds of St Luke’s Church in a memorial that I unveiled ten years ago at a time when the Good Friday Agreement was set to change the trajectory of Irish and British history.
Today, relations between Ireland and Great Britain are the best they have ever been at any time in history. The conflict which blighted so much of our countries’ shared past has finally been put behind us, old enemies work together in government in Northern Ireland, cross-border relations are thriving on a solid good neighbourly footing and so many things that were thought to be impossible are now possible.
We are the first generation who can realistically hope to see what will happen when those who share the island of Ireland work with one another rather than against one another.
Already the evidence is in of great things to come and the evidence is here in this city where the Ireland-Liverpool axis is today utterly rejuvenated with huge buoyancy in commerce, tourism, transport, music, sport, the arts; a litany of fresh new links to build on the many old and strong ties of kinship.
The twinning of Dublin with Liverpool in 1997, just over a decade ago gave formal recognition to a long and enduring relationship, a bridge built by the hearts and hands of countless proud Dubliners whose children and grandchildren are today proud Liverpudlians. Every county in Ireland is linked to this place as I found out in St Michael’s Irish Centre, the hub of Irish cultural activities in this city.
As European Capital of Culture Liverpool has been showcased brilliantly on a very wide international stage and we in Ireland have been very proud of this city to which we feel so very close, for meshed into that rich and varied culture is the music, dance, poetry, literature and history of the Irish, one of the many great gifts of our emigrants to their new homeland.
Tonight, of course, here in St George’s Hall, we celebrate the musical element of our shared culture. Even without resorting to names like ‘Lennon’ and ‘McCartney’, we know that in music, we find a clear expression of the ties that bind Liverpool to Ireland. I’d like to thank Ciarán Hanrahan and his fellow performers for travelling from Ireland to provide tonight’s entertainment, and I hope you won’t mind if I give special mention to young Róisín Seoige, a singer and a dancer in the traditional sean-nós style. Róisín is only eight years old, but she’s great, radiant with the confidence of modern Ireland and infused with the genius of its ancient heritage. A little taste of our future.
So many of our people came here from an Ireland of tragedy and underachievement that it is truly wonderful to be here as Liverpool shines at a time when Ireland also shines as never before. She owes her emigrant family so much and I hope that they too take pride in this new Ireland of growing peace and prosperity.
I hope that you’ll all enjoy the rest of the evening as much as I have so far. It’s been wonderful to meet you all.
Go raibh míle maith agaibh. Thank you.